“We break through the wall, Grab some gems, and we run! No sweat at all.”
Boss’s helmet was glowing brighter now, so much so that it hurt Rod’s eyes when he looked directly at it. However he couldn't help but stare into its halo of pearly green light.
“Rod”
The light was almost inviting, like a green ball of warmth.
“ROD”
Rod broke his locked eyes from the helmet and looked down to Boss’s face, now with a swirl of green remnants burned into his irises. As he turned away the lines stayed, floating on top of his vision like a game of snake forever on his pupils.
“Rod dig the bloody wall out!”
Startled back into reality Rod shuffled past the other Goblin muttering under his breath and draggin the massive crude bronze pickaxe behind him. He raised the splintered wood handle and dark brown metal above his head hesitated with the weight teetering at its peak, and then struck down into the rock wall dividing them and great riches.
Great riches. That’s what boss promised. Gold bars and sparkling gems clear as water and red as blood.
The wall of plated and riveted steel standing twenty feet high in front of Maria Summers was broken up only by a wooden and metal barred door.
Okay Maria, she thought to herself, he deals in information. Always has. You have information. In return he always gives a reward for said information. Just give him the information and he may know where Jackson went. One for one and then we move on with our lives. You atleast owe the kid’s parents that.
A small port in the door about a foot above Maria’s head creaked open on unaligned rusty sliders revealing a scouring and pockmarked bearded face. It took his eyes a second to look down far enough to lock onto Maria's small figure.
“Purpose.”
Maria certainly wasn’t ready to state her business so abruptly, let alone come up with a good excuse to get in, “Uhm, uh I..”
The face glared at her for only a moment before the port door slammed shut.
Maria was more afraid of missing her chance than some old burly man, so she blurted out at the metal wall before her, “I have information to trade!”
The heavy door was silent for some time, its presence wavered Maria's confidence, and she eventually turned away, defeated.
Shit.
Just as she was beginning to walk away back into the crusty alley the door clunked twice and then swung open, the burly man stood to the side looking straight ahead into the dim bar. He ignored her eyes when she looked him up and down. Beyond the door was a mess of barstools and another man behind a large oak bar, bathed in golden light from the few bright hanging lamps. That was exactly who Maria was looking for. He awaited pouring a mug of beer in the nearly empty bar, like God found behind his pearly gates.
Maria hesitated a second, and then flattened out her skirt and composed herself. She strutted into the bar, Making a point of ignoring the massive man holding open the door for her. As soon as she passed him he shut the door quietly and stood in front of it again. Guarding his bosses domain like a pit bull on watch. Maria made her best effort to seem like her purpose was bigger than her fear of the ill renowned bar.
Maria knew she didn’t fit in here. Her plain tan knee length skirt and plaid collared coat kept her back straight; her heels almost made her feel powerful. She tried to act like her authority extended beyond that of middle schoolers from 7am to 3pm.
She stopped at the bar and spit out her lines that she had rehearsed to herself fifty times on the way to the bar. “Bartender, I have information and I will trade for your own.” The rest of her breath she had stored up exhalled from her nose in a huff.
The words bounced off the bartender as he tapped a foaming beer mug with a wooden comb. He placed it on the bartop and slid it down to a man at an end seat. It stopped an inch from his resting hand and next to and empty mug.
“Boss.. I thinken we're here” Rod lowered the now shattered pickaxe, its dull bronze pocketed and its handle splintering where he had missed the stone and whacked the wood shaft. His fingers were numb and vibrating, stuck in the cyclical motion of swinging.
“Set the charge Rod.”
The exhausted Goblin hunched his tired shoulders. He spoke into the ground of rocky rubble, “I thought we was just going to break through quietly.”
“Rod we aint breaking through quietly, we gunna make an entrance!”
Rod’s eyes squinted as he slowly turned around to the glowing goblin behind him. His eyes got lost in the blaring star of a helmet again. All he could see was cascading green, consuming all of his vision. “Boss you said this was stealthy mission. No human would know.” His eyes now watering at their corners.
“It was stealthy ya dingbat! Wasn’t it stealthy?! We dug a tunnel through stone from the Misty Mountains all the way to the docks! It never been done before Rod! And no one even noticed!” He threw up his sweaty sunburnt green arm and pointed at the craggy wall. “Now set the dang charge!”
“I..” Rod couldn’t take his eyes off the light. “I ‘uppose it was pretty stealthy...” Rod took his pack off and tore his eyes once more from the green light. His vision now blurred, he kneeled to get the detonation bundle out of it. He basked in the warm green light emanating from the helmet and heating his sweating boney back.
Maria stood in the silence. Her heels didn’t make her feel any power at all anymore. Her hands on the edge of the bar became clammy. Out of frustration she tried again. “Please Bartender… I really need to know. And I’m sure you know something.”
The Bartender walked back to the sink and splashed some mugs into soapy water.
She tried one last time. “A kid is missing. Taken from his home. I am just trying to give his parents closure.”
The Bartender stopped. He rest his hands on the side of the metal basin. He took his time getting things back in order before he finally seemed to notice Maria. "Alright, sit down," With the slight turn of his head he said, “What do you need to know.”
PWROOOMPH
The man sitting at the end of the bar went flying, stool and all. The concrete below his feet erupted into a shower of molten slag and rubble flying towards the ceiling. The end of the bar rippled down the line until it shattered into splinters as the glassware exploded from the shock wave.
The explosion threw Maria backwards ten feet until the massive man shielded her from slamming into the metal walls that wrinkled under the pressure within them. The entire bar surged at its seams and the lights flickered and then burst showering sparks across the rows of shattered glass bottles.
When the shower of black soot and stone settled there was only the Bartender standing, furiously clutching the remains of the bar edge, hsi face crimson red.
A squat Goblin burst from the gaping hole in the floor, sweat dripping from his forehead. “HAHA! The vault of the Union Bank!” His metal mining helmet blinding all those in the room with rapidly pulsing green energy.
Shielding his eyes from the light of the helmet a second Goblin crawled up partially out of the hole. “Boss where the gems suppose to be in here?” He looked around and then up to the goblin who was now no more than a star of light and heat. “Did we blow up the gems boss?”
The Goblin beside him burst into flame. His entire body enveloped in fire as his metal helmet gleamed green and melted into red slag, consuming the Goblins head. In under a minute a charred smouldering heap lay next to him.
The bar was very silent. Rod slowly withdrew his head from the hole in the bar floor and scurried back into the tunnel from which they had come.
“I don't like this Boss”
“We break through the wall, Grab some gems, and we run! No sweat at all.”
Boss’s helmet was glowing brighter now, so much so that it hurt Rod’s eyes when he looked directly at it. However he couldn't help but stare into its halo of pearly green light.
“Rod”
The light was almost inviting, like a green ball of warmth.
“ROD”
Rod broke his locked eyes from the helmet and looked down to Boss’s face, now with a swirl of green remnants burned into his irises. As he turned away the lines stayed, floating on top of his vision like a game of snake forever on his pupils.
“Rod dig the bloody wall out!”
Startled back into reality Rod shuffled past the other Goblin muttering under his breath and draggin the massive crude bronze pickaxe behind him. He raised the splintered wood handle and dark brown metal above his head hesitated with the weight teetering at its peak, and then struck down into the rock wall dividing them and great riches.
Great riches. That’s what boss promised. Gold bars and sparkling gems clear as water and red as blood.
The wall of plated and riveted steel standing twenty feet high in front of Maria Summers was broken up only by a wooden and metal barred door.
Okay Maria, she thought to herself, he deals in information. Always has. You have information. In return he always gives a reward for said information. Just give him the information and he may know where Jackson went. One for one and then we move on with our lives. You atleast owe the kid’s parents that.
A small port in the door about a foot above Maria’s head creaked open on unaligned rusty sliders revealing a scouring and pockmarked bearded face. It took his eyes a second to look down far enough to lock onto Maria's small figure.
“Purpose.”
Maria certainly wasn’t ready to state her business so abruptly, let alone come up with a good excuse to get in, “Uhm, uh I..”
The face glared at her for only a moment before the port door slammed shut.
Maria was more afraid of missing her chance than some old burly man, so she blurted out at the metal wall before her, “I have information to trade!”
The heavy door was silent for some time, its presence wavered Maria's confidence, and she eventually turned away, defeated.
Shit.
Just as she was beginning to walk away back into the crusty alley the door clunked twice and then swung open, the burly man stood to the side looking straight ahead into the dim bar. He ignored her eyes when she looked him up and down. Beyond the door was a mess of barstools and another man behind a large oak bar, bathed in golden light from the few bright hanging lamps. That was exactly who Maria was looking for. He awaited pouring a mug of beer in the nearly empty bar, like God found behind his pearly gates.
Maria hesitated a second, and then flattened out her skirt and composed herself. She strutted into the bar, Making a point of ignoring the massive man holding open the door for her. As soon as she passed him he shut the door quietly and stood in front of it again. Guarding his bosses domain like a pit bull on watch. Maria made her best effort to seem like her purpose was bigger than her fear of the ill renowned bar.
Maria knew she didn’t fit in here. Her plain tan knee length skirt and plaid collared coat kept her back straight; her heels almost made her feel powerful. She tried to act like her authority extended beyond that of middle schoolers from 7am to 3pm.
She stopped at the bar and spit out her lines that she had rehearsed to herself fifty times on the way to the bar. “Bartender, I have information and I will trade for your own.” The rest of her breath she had stored up exhalled from her nose in a huff.
The words bounced off the bartender as he tapped a foaming beer mug with a wooden comb. He placed it on the bartop and slid it down to a man at an end seat. It stopped an inch from his resting hand and next to and empty mug.
“Boss.. I thinken we're here” Rod lowered the now shattered pickaxe, its dull bronze pocketed and its handle splintering where he had missed the stone and whacked the wood shaft. His fingers were numb and vibrating, stuck in the cyclical motion of swinging.
“Set the charge Rod.”
The exhausted Goblin hunched his tired shoulders. He spoke into the ground of rocky rubble, “I thought we was just going to break through quietly.”
“Rod we aint breaking through quietly, we gunna make an entrance!”
Rod’s eyes squinted as he slowly turned around to the glowing goblin behind him. His eyes got lost in the blaring star of a helmet again. All he could see was cascading green, consuming all of his vision. “Boss you said this was stealthy mission. No human would know.” His eyes now watering at their corners.
“It was stealthy ya dingbat! Wasn’t it stealthy?! We dug a tunnel through stone from the Misty Mountains all the way to the docks! It never been done before Rod! And no one even noticed!” He threw up his sweaty sunburnt green arm and pointed at the craggy wall. “Now set the dang charge!”
“I..” Rod couldn’t take his eyes off the light. “I ‘uppose it was pretty stealthy...” Rod took his pack off and tore his eyes once more from the green light. His vision now blurred, he kneeled to get the detonation bundle out of it. He basked in the warm green light emanating from the helmet and heating his sweating boney back.
Maria stood in the silence. Her heels didn’t make her feel any power at all anymore. Her hands on the edge of the bar became clammy. Out of frustration she tried again. “Please Bartender… I really need to know. And I’m sure you know something.”
The Bartender walked back to the sink and splashed some mugs into soapy water.
She tried one last time. “A kid is missing. Taken from his home. I am just trying to give his parents closure.”
The Bartender stopped. He rest his hands on the side of the metal basin. He took his time getting things back in order before he finally seemed to notice Maria. "Alright, sit down," With the slight turn of his head he said, “What do you need to know.”
PWROOOMPH
The man sitting at the end of the bar went flying, stool and all. The concrete below his feet erupted into a shower of molten slag and rubble flying towards the ceiling. The end of the bar rippled down the line until it shattered into splinters as the glassware exploded from the shock wave.
The explosion threw Maria backwards ten feet until the massive man shielded her from slamming into the metal walls that wrinkled under the pressure within them. The entire bar surged at its seams and the lights flickered and then burst showering sparks across the rows of shattered glass bottles.
When the shower of black soot and stone settled there was only the Bartender standing, furiously clutching the remains of the bar edge, hsi face crimson red.
A squat Goblin burst from the gaping hole in the floor, sweat dripping from his forehead. “HAHA! The vault of the Union Bank!” His metal mining helmet blinding all those in the room with rapidly pulsing green energy.
Shielding his eyes from the light of the helmet a second Goblin crawled up partially out of the hole. “Boss where the gems suppose to be in here?” He looked around and then up to the goblin who was now no more than a star of light and heat. “Did we blow up the gems boss?”
The Goblin beside him burst into flame. His entire body enveloped in fire as his metal helmet gleamed green and melted into red slag, consuming the Goblins head. In under a minute a charred smouldering heap lay next to him.
The bar was very silent. Rod slowly withdrew his head from the hole in the bar floor and scurried back into the tunnel from which they had come.